If it’s happening in politics, economics, world affairs, contemporary culture, or the realm of ideas and values, chances are you will find a fresh, thoughtful post about it on our ’76 Blog. Contributors come from all walks of life and all over the map.

Recent Posts

Each month in Centennial Review, we publish essays on the fundamentals of a free and just society, adapted from speeches given by leading voices at our think tank or in the CCU community. Read this month's Centennial Review to find out what we're discussing.

Latest Reviews

As Colorado Christian University’s think tank, we draw on the expertise of CCU Faculty, Centennial Institute Fellows, and other skilled policy analysts to provide background and recommendations on current issues facing policymakers in Colorado and the nation.

If it’s happening in politics, economics, world affairs, contemporary culture, or the realm of ideas and values, chances are you will find a fresh, thoughtful post about it on our ’76 Blog. Contributors come from all walks of life and all over the map.

Recent Posts

Each month in Centennial Review, we publish essays on the fundamentals of a free and just society, adapted from speeches given by leading voices at our think tank or in the CCU community. Read this month's Centennial Review to find out what we're discussing.

Latest Reviews

As Colorado Christian University’s think tank, we draw on the expertise of CCU Faculty, Centennial Institute Fellows, and other skilled policy analysts to provide background and recommendations on current issues facing policymakers in Colorado and the nation.

What Obamacare means for rural Coloradans

What Obamacare means for rural Coloradans

Whether by design or coincidence, rural residents can expect to take it in
the pocketbook as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka
“ObamaCare”) takes effect over the next 15 months.

Insurance exchanges, for those wanting to buy insurance, open on October 1
of this year. In 2014, everyone is required to buy “qualified” insurance
coverage or pay a penalty to the IRS.

However, the new law’s impact on for people in rural areas isn’t the same as
for those in urban areas.

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, rural residents are more
likely to purchase their own coverage through the individual market or to be
covered by employers with less than 50 employees.

Individuals under 35 are now experiencing premium increases of 40% and
higher. Others are finding that insurance plans they’ve used for years are
being discontinued because politicians and bureaucrats have deemed them
inadequate.

Rural residents are also more likely to be covered by PPO plans because HMOs
are seldom offered in rural areas. Under ObamaCare’s health insurance tax
(or “HIT” tax), PPOs pay double the tax charged to HMOs and self-funded
plans aren’t taxed at all.

Worse still, the health insurance tax isn’t a simple percentage added to
your premium. Instead, it’s re-calculated by bureaucrats each year in order
to raise enough money to pay the costs of new ObamaCare entitlements.
Insurance companies can’t tell their customers how much the tax will be
until federal bureaucrats decide how much blood they need to squeeze out of
us.

For families who buy their own insurance through the individual market, the
HIT tax is expected increase premium costs by an estimated $508 per year or
$215 per year for individuals. For small employers, premiums are estimated
to increase by $683 annually per family or $276 for individuals. Of course,
these amounts may change drastically if the new law causes more people to
stop buying insurance because they can no longer afford it or because their
plan has been discontinued.

These disparities cause rural residents to subsidize more populated areas,
whether along Colorado’s Front Range or in densely-populated states like
California, New York and Massachusetts, for no rational purpose.

Another provision that can only make costs higher everywhere is the
requirement that everyone pay for coverage they may not want or need. For
example, maternity coverage is now required for everyone. That includes
men, as well as women who are beyond child-bearing age, women who have
chosen surgical sterilization, and, in a cruel irony, women who are
physiologically incapable of bearing children. And just for good measure,
women must pay for prostate cancer coverage.

President Obama claimed the new law would save the average family $2,500 in
premiums. More recently, he claimed that Americans have saved $3.4 billion.
The first claim is laughable, and the second is dubious, too. Here’s why:

ObamaCare requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the premiums
they collect on medical services. No more than 20% can be spent on
administration and overhead. If an insurance company exceeds 20% on
overhead, it must refund the difference to policyholders.

That sounds nice until you consider that this rule has no bearing on the
total cost of premiums. Whether the average policy costs $5,000 a year or
$50,000 a year, the insurance company is only penalized if it spent more
than 20% on administration and overhead.

Personally, I’d rather pay less in premiums even if my insurer spends 25% on
overhead than to pay higher premiums to an insurer that spends only 15% on
overhead.

The types of insurance to buy – or not to buy – should be a choice we make
for ourselves. In a free country, it would be. Unfortunately, we live in a
country where we are surrendering our freedoms one at a time.